A stability ball (also called “gym ball”) is an exercise equipment that allows a user to exercise stretching, yoga, and so on, while trying to keep balance against elasticity of the ball inflated with air. The stability ball helps the user to exercise harder and build muscle strength as the user tries to keep balance and stability. Since such the stability ball is not only simple to exercise but also helps in posture correction of the body, it is effective in promoting muscle strength and flexibility. Patent Documents 1 to 4 below disclose such stability balls and technologies for easily storing and using the stability ball.
(Patent Document 1) Korean Utility Model Registration No. 0469159
Since the stability ball is generally spherical, it is not easy for a beginner exerciser to sit or lie down on it, and therefore it is necessary to use the stability ball only with the help of a professional instructor. Especially for those with weak muscles such as women and elderly people, and so on, it is difficult for them to handle the existing stability balls as they like by themselves. That is, since the conventional stability ball is spherical, if the exerciser does not control the stability ball with proper force and posture, the stability ball would slide uncontrollably on the floor, which may cause the exerciser injuries. In order to solve this problem, a hemispherical upper stability ball portion and a hemispherical lower stability ball portion are connected by an O-ring type connecting portion having protrusions, in which a shape of the lower stability ball portion may be changed into a hemispherical shape or a flat shape according to inflow/outflow of air.
(Patent Document 2) Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2014-0020173 The document discloses a stability ball configured to prevent a certain group of users such as children and elderly people who have difficulty of keeping balance from slipping or falling down during exercising, while allowing these users to exercise as they like and thus promote their health.
(Patent Document 3) Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2014-0060143
The document discloses a rocking chair on which a user can sit and rest comfortably, and more particularly, it discloses a rocking chair having not only a function of a rocking chair, but also a function of a stability ball by performing stability ball movement when necessary.
In order to achieve the above object, the rocking chair disclosed in the above document has a technical characteristic of including a support frame curved to support the back, the hips, and the thighs of a sitting person, a base frame curved to swing a portion in contact with a ground back and forth, fasteners mounted on the base frame to allow the support frame to be engaged, and protrusions formed on an upper surface and a lower surface of the support frame, respectively to be inserted into the fasteners, in which the protrusion formed on the lower surface of the support frame is engaged with the fastener so that the support frame is positioned downwardly concave, or the protrusion formed on the upper surface of the support frame is engaged with the fastener so that the support frame is positioned upwardly convex.
(Patent Document 4) Korean Utility Model Registration No. 0474263
The document discloses a stability ball hanger provides a stability ball hanger consisting of a combination of a support portion having a lower surface contacting a floor, a frame having a predetermined length and installed vertically on the support portion, and a cradle fixed to a side of the frame to enable the stability ball to be mounted thereon, in order to make it possible to easily and conveniently store a spherical stability ball, to reduce the volume by constructing the stability ball in a prefabricated manner and thus to facilitate a transportation of the stability ball during delivery.
However, such stability balls and storing the stability balls have the following problems.
(1) The stability ball is generally spherical in shape and designed to roll easily to provide increased exercise effect for the user as the user is trying to keep the stability ball from moving. This is effective in obtaining exercise effects, but it is difficult to store the stability ball after finishing the exercise.
(2) In other words, the stability ball left on the floor after exercise is restored to its original spherical shape and thus can roll around on the floor, and when the stability ball is removed from the floor and stored on another object, there is a concern that the spherical stability ball may roll down.
(3) There is a possibility that as the stability ball rolls down, another object bumping against the stability ball is damaged, and there also is a risk of injury when the ball impacts toddlers, infants, or elderly.
(4) Certain stability balls are made not to roll, but it is difficult to produce such stability balls.
(5) In addition, in order to solve the problems mentioned above, technologies related to a hanger capable of storing a stability ball are disclosed, but it is troublesome to use such hanger since it is necessary to purchase a hanger separately and install it in a room, or the like.
(6) Further, when there are multiple stability balls, using the hanger can help to effectively store the stability ball in a reduced storage space, but when there is only one single stability ball, it is disadvantageous to use a hanger in terms of space utilization because the hanger occupies a considerable space.
(7) In addition, the hanger is convenient for storing stability balls in a fixed manner in a place like home, but is inconvenient to carry the stability balls around or move it to other places.